India is currently home to 52 unicorn startups and one of the fastest-growing startup ecosystems.
Indian startups received about $6.5 billion in funding in the April-June 2021 quarter, while 11 of them entered the coveted unicorn club, a report by Nasscom-PGA Labs said. During the second quarter, 160 funding deals were closed -- up 2 per cent from the January-March period. "Q2 2021 has been impeccable for the start-up growth story. From being the most funded quarter, it has also added the most number of unicorns. "Standing tall during the pandemic second wave headwinds, Indian start-up ecosystem has shown a strong resilience in this quarter," the report said.
Unacademy may see a funding dry spell for at least next 12-18 months and even last till 24 months and will cut costs to weather the lean period, said the chief executive of the education technology unicorn that recently laid off more than 600 employees. "This is a test for all of us. We must learn to work under constraints and focus on profitability at all costs. We must survive the winter," said Unacademy's co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal in a letter to the employees. "Winter is here. We are looking at a time when the funding will dry up for at least 12-18 months.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed how businesses look at payments. Earlier, fintech companies said when they were talking to merchants, they were not interested in digitisation.
Of the 1,145 offers made this year, consulting firms made up 34 per cent, followed by banking, financial services and insurance, pharma/healthcare, IT/ITeS and FMCG/retail.
Chief metropolitan magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria allowed the police plea, which said further investigation was on.
Fresher hiring is expected to more than double compared to last year.
Political controversies aside, Twitter's business in India is expanding, and creating opportunities for Indians, reports Neha Alawadhi.
Naukri.com's Hiring Outlook Survey for 2020 reveals the jobs and sectors that saw a surge in demand during the pandemic.
Experts say the new guideline is likely to hurt foreign players more, especially card companies such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express who process and store credit card transaction data outside of India.
What work in Jaipur's favour are lower costs, a good talent pool, better quality of life, and proximity to the Delhi National Capital Region
While players in the financial ecosystem are opening up to the idea of receivables funding for the sector, this market needs a regulator, which a Parliament panel feels only RBI can provide.
Apart from SBI, UPI 2.0 partner banks are HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, RBL Bank, YES Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, Federal Bank and HSBC.
Fintech players are customising solutions for rural markets and helping SMEs learn how to use the services
Over the last 12 months, thanks to bold bets by venture capital firms like Sequoia, SoftBank Vision Fund, and foreign strategic investors like Naspers, pipeline of start-ups with potential to achieve $1 bn in valuation is at an all-time high.
Yulu founder Amit Gupta believes bicycle sharing is the next big thing.
Naveen Tewari loves cycling but over the past few years, he has been keeping his first love waiting.
'India missed the software products revolution (and now is in danger of missing the platform revolution), complacent that we are the software experts of the world based on IT services prowess,' points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
